“Not only Kawhi but the Raptors. Obviously the whole Drake thing. I think it’s pretty dope to have, you know not just Toronto but Canada as a country.”

The early days of Raptors basketball were interesting.

The Raptors were a novelty and yet they weren’t really a good team. Remember Damon Stoudamire, Zan Tabak, Sharone Wright, Carlos Rogers and Marcus Camby?

During their inaugural season, they finished 21-61 and in last place in the NBA’s Central Division. People still came to show support.

“They had what looked like goofy uniforms,” TSN’s Jermain Franklin once told me. “They looked like the movie, Jurassic Park. People thought they were named after that movie. But they’ve grown.”

“I’ve been telling people for years, the city, the food, the nice restaurants, places to go, great shopping, the money exchange rate is great,” former Toronto Raptors guard Morris Peterson once told me.

Things briskly changed when the Raptors drafted both Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady in 1997 and 1998. A young team on the rise; Carter turned heads when his acrobatic dunks won him the 2000 NBA Slam Dunk Contest. Trips to the NBA Playoffs, drafting Chris Bosh, they built a fanbase. McGrady, Bosh and Carter would all bolt Toronto, but their impact left a great mark on the city for something other than hockey. Insert a little bit of Drake influence beginning in 2009 when he was signed to Lil Wayne’s Young Money label and the city dubbed, ‘The 6’ by the artist, has not looked back.

Drake has been a centerpiece for the Raptors this postseason, attending all their home games, as a Global Ambassador for a sports franchise.

During Game 6 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals matchup between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Toronto Raptors, Drake wore a 100 Miles Brand hoodie which actually paid homage to late rapper, Tupac who wore the 100 Miles hoodie in the 1994 film Above The Rim.

The Drake Effect

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: What’s it been like since you saw Drake wearing that sweatshirt on television?

Garie Adamson: Unbelievable, it’s been crazy for us as a brand, crazy for our city, you know what I mean? We’ve been 27 years plus in the making, so we’ve loved Drake from day one being from our city and his music and his talent and his work energy that’s just kept us inspired, so that’s where it’s really all coming from.

Tupac and the 100 Mile Legacy

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: Drake wore a sweatshirt that said “100 Miles” on it and it was a tribute to the late rapper Tupac Shakur, who actually wore that hoodie on Above the Rim. So help me understand something. I didn’t know 100 MIles brand was around back then, I’m sure it wasn’t. How did you acquire the name, this whole thing started with Tupac in Above the Rim to now Drake wearing it, so how does that process work?

Garie Adamson: Well I was going to say, we’ve been around since 1991, we started out with a store on Young Street, and at the time, I love hip-hop, so I grew up on 80’s and 90’s hip-hop, so a lot of the groups, the very first group I met was Kid ‘n Play, and they put me on, and then from there they opened up so many doors where Bad Boy to the late great Biggie Smalls from Bad Boy to all the Bad Boy artists, EPMD, the Hit Squad, you know, they just came showing us love and open up many more doors for us. The great Jessy Terrero from New York presented Tupac with our hoodie on set and Pac like it because he believed in black designers and wanted to promote black designers and, next thing you know, 100 Miles is in the movie Above the Rim and our lives have never been the same ever since.

Thoughts when Drake wore the Hoodie

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: When I hear you talking about this, it reminds me so much, I’m a child of the 90s, like the HBCU hoodies, the different hoodies that you saw on the TV show Different World, you saw Martin Lawrence wearing it on Martin, you saw it on Def Comedy Jam. It seems like this journey, everything is 90’s retro. How did you guys get that in Drake’s hands?

Garie Adamson: We’ve known Drake for a very, very, very long time. Toronto, as big as it is, it’s very small, so we’ve had a history with, one, just being a fan of Drake and he actually, I want to tell you the truth, he ordered it. He ordered it like any other client online and we were, like everybody else, seeing the results of us just delivering it to his peoples and him doing what he did with it, putting the “Kawhi me a river” on the back, so we don’t want to take any credit where credit’s not due, that was all Drake with the “Kawhi me a river”, we’re just the brand that he chose to wear that day, and God bless him every step of his way and all the success that he has.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: So you’re sitting at home, you’re watching the game on television, and you’re seeing it on TV. Your first thought and your first expression was…?

Garie Adamson: Oh my God! My Lord, it’s happened again! This happened to us with Tupac and now oh my gosh one of the greatest of all time wore our clothing, and it’s just such a humbling feeling, t say the least. It’s the most majestic feeling to know that the closest thing to actually the spirits above just shining through our human lives.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: If I may ask, has your website gone on the 404 notice yet because everybody’s buying it?

Garie Adamson: It’s been crazy. It’s been amazing, phone hasn’t stopped ringing. 100milesbrand.com, for those that don’t know our site or don’t know how to get in touch with us, also Instagram 100milesbrand, Facebook and Twitter the same, so we’re pretty accessible through all those different mediums and social media sites.

100 Miles Brand x Other Artists

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: So you talked about Tupac and you talked about him wearing it back in the day, my man Garie Adamson on the line with Scoop B Radio-

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: So when you were dealing with them, were you dealing with them directly, or did you have a middle man?

Garie Adamson: A lot of times, it’s the artists themselves that come and represent for our brand or want to wear our clothing, so if you guys check out No Endz, No Skinz by Big L, you’ll see Showbiz from Showbiz and AG wear 100 miles (inaudible) in the Big L video. If you look at Diamond D’s Best Kept Secret, you’ll see the UMC’s wearing 100 miles from back in the 90’s, ‘92, ‘93, so we’ve been around, go on our Instagram, you’ll see Biggie wearing us in concert when he came to Toronto, he came to my store and let me know that he’s been a big fan of our brand for the time that he’s known of us.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: Biggie was probably about a size 4X?

Garie Adamson: Yeah, Biggie was big, you know what I’m saying? So, like 3X and it was, for Big when we met him, it was a very humbling feeling because we’re like “Oh my gosh, Biggie” and it was during the time with him and Pac having their differences and Pac just wearing us, so we’re like, oh my gosh, Biggie will be mad at us,” and he’s just like “nah, actually I love you guys” and showed us a lot of love and embraced us, so it’s just a moment that i’ll never forget and an inspiration to my brand to this day.

Toronto Atmosphere

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: What has it been like in Toronto this season? I visited there three years ago, fell in love with the city, I love the poutine, with the french fries and the gravy, the food is great, the people are nice, but how has the atmosphere been different this season than in any other season?

Garie Adamson: All we do is win. It’s God’s Plan, like Drake has said, that we’re the champs, we’re in the 6, you know what i’m saying, so I want people to check the stats, it’s 100 NBA games, we won by 100 points, the Raptors, shout out the Toronto Raptors, shout out Kawhi Leonard, Kyle Lowry, Ibaka, Vanvleet, Siakam, I’ve been watching it so much that now when I need to name drop, Gasol, they’re an amazing team, Nurse, amazing, amazing, Ujiri, my hat’s off to my city, it’s just on fire right now, the fact that the hoodie that’s been worn and what it means to Toronto, so the city’s on fire, we’re going to win the whole thing, so we’re going to carry off some boys right now.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: You said some big words there, Scoop B Radio on the line, talking Drake, talking hoodies and more, Drake actually lived in Toronto briefly when his-

Garie Adamson: Drake is a Torontonian, so stay corrected. He’s from Toronto, he’s the official, official ambassador of the Toronto Raptors, and he’s the number 1 MC rapper in the world, so salute to Champagne Papi Drake, I love you.

Dell Curry and other Raptors Players

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: Well I was talking about Steph Curry. I was saying Steph Curry lived in Toronto briefly when his dad, Dell Curry played for the Toronto Raptors. Do you remember those days when Del played for the Toronto Raptors?

Garie Adamson: Come on, of course! I’ve been a day one Raptors fan, we’ve been with the Raptors from the conception, so I remember when we had our store, some of the first players coming into our store, and we’re like “okay, skip to my lou” you know, shout out to Rick and they’ve all repped, Jamaal Mcgloire, you know what I mean, they’ve repped the brand, so we’ve been around, we’ve been around for quite some time.

Warriors or Raptors?

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: What do you think that the Warriors are lacking that the Toronto Raptors can take advantage of?

Garie Adamson: Kawhi and determination and heart, and the city behind them like we are. I mean, this is Toronto, aka the Six and we’re just feeling it right now, and this is our time.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: Well you heard it first. 100 MIles Brand is doing his thing right now, the marathon continues.

Garie Adamson: Hell yeah, shoutout the late great Nipsey Hussle, another one that reached in touch with us and we wanted to lead by example by hustling and motivating, like you said, the marathon continues. Shout out Lauren London and everybody that felt this tragedy, we definitely have felt it from the bottom of our hearts.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: You heard it first. Brother, thank you so much for joining Scoop B Radio and good luck to your Raptors.

Garie Adamson: Oh come one, good luck to both teams, but again, may the better team win, and that’s the Raptors.

Brandon 'Scoop B' Robinson is a senior writer at Basketball Society Online, an NBA Insider and a TV analyst at MSG Networks.
He's also a contributor at Heavy.com. You can hear him regularly on the Scoop B Radio Podcast by subscribing via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Tune In App & Stitcher App.
He's a graduate of Eastern University, with a BA in Media Communication & Hofstra University with an MA in Journalism.
Check out Brandon on the MYGM mode of the hit video game, NBA2K19.
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